Where the Lady Vols stand in ESPN’s preseason bracketology

Bracketology in the preseason? Well, yes, ESPN’s Charlie Creme released his latest preseason bracket watch Tuesday morning. This season’s tournament will bring in a new era as the field has expanded to 76 teams, with eight more at-large bids. The opening rounds will take place Wednesday and Thursday with 12 games instead of the usual four.

Where does Kim Caldwell’s Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team stand in the preseason projections? Creme has them as a No. 8 seed in the Durham bracket as part of Region 4 in Las Vegas. The Lady Vols are paired with Princeton, which would be a No. 9 seed, with the winner taking on No. 1 seed Duke or No. 16 seed Jacksonville or Binghamton.

These are early projections, but they would mean a 45th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the program, a run that goes back to 1982, when legendary Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols finished with a Final Four appearance.

Bridgette Gordon returns to Knoxville

For Caldwell and this year’s team, they’ll begin with their lone exhibition Tuesday night by hosting Lady Vol great Bridgette Gordon and Florida A&M University.

Gordon won national titles in 1987 and 1989. The 1987 title was the first of eight for Summitt and UT.

Gordon led the Lady Vols to a 115-21 record during her four years at UT. She was the driving force behind an NCAA-record four consecutive trips to the Final Four as well as two NCAA and two SEC championships. Gordon was the first freshman ever to lead UT in scoring, and she earned co-SEC Rookie of the Year and All-SEC honors. The next year, she led Tennessee to its first NCAA title, earned All-SEC honors again, and was named to the All-Final Four team.

Tennessee senior Bridgette Gordon (30) gets her shot off over Virginia defender Audra Smith. The No. 1 ranked Lady Vols smashed Virginia 80-47 in the 1989 NCAA East Regional semifinals at Western Kentucky. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

She earned All-SEC honors and was named MVP of the SEC Tournament as a junior. She also earned her first of two Kodak All-America honors that year. After earning a gold medal as a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team, Gordon returned to Tennessee for her senior season. She led the Lady Vols to the 1989 NCAA title and was named MVP of the Final Four. She finished her career as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Tournament history.

I am sure Gordon has a lot of wisdom to pass along to the current Lady Vols team as well. Having alumni who wore the uniform and built the program speak to the team is something Caldwell has embraced and wants more of.

“We want to continue to do it,” Caldwell said during local media day. “We want to do it as much as we can. It helps educate our players, and it helps connect the future and the past. That’s part of what we have to do. That’s what our job here is, to continue to try to make that legacy proud and relevant and everything to that degree. So, anytime there is a former Lady Vol within a local distance, we try to grab them.”

First look at the 2026-27 Lady Vols

Fans will get their first true look at the Lady Vols against Gordon and the Rattlers at 6:30 p.m. ET at Food City Center on Tuesday night. If you can’t make it in person, the game will be streamed on SECN+.

While the Lady Vols have practiced and scrimmaged a lot over the past weeks, Tuesday’s exhibition will give Tennessee the truest evidence of where it is to begin the season.

“That’s some of the things we’re trying to get ahead of,” Caldwell said on trying to avoid a slow start. “We’ve tried to scrimmage as much as possible, even in practice against our practice players, getting as many game-like simulations as we possibly can and getting a taste of failure to see who we are then and getting a taste of success and to see who we are then.

“And you have some things, you’re right, you can’t emulate. Sometimes we’re going to have to switch our rotations and who plays with who and who comes in for who and getting your 10 players set. And that does take time throughout November. You have to make sure you have your foundation set with the type of players that you have and where their heads are at, and I think we have that.”

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